Short Summary

The face of Moscow is changing rapidly, as it develops to meet the demands of a capital city 6 1/2-million people.

Description

The face of Moscow is changing rapidly, as it develops to meet the demands of a capital city 6 1/2-million people. This film shows a few of the buildings that would most strike a visitor in this year of the 50th anniversary of the revolution. First, the world-famous centre, the Kremlin. It was first built as a fortress seven hundred years ago. Inside its turreted walls are gold-domed cathedrals that date back five centuries; eighteenth century palaces that house the Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers; and the latest addition, the Palace of Congresses, only completed in 1961.

Parts of the city centre are being drastically redeveloped, with tall blocks of shops, offices and flats. The film shows part of this development, the Kalinin Prospect, where many of the building workers are women, and the spectacular view of Moscow from the top. It shows Moscow's newest hotel, the Rossia, which can accommodate nearly 6,000 people; the new Soviet Television Centre, which is to have a tower 525 metres (more than 1,700 feet) high; and the dramatic monument to Soviet space achievement, erected in 1964.

It then returns to Red Square, where all day long queues move slowly forward to enter the Lenin Mausoleum and pay their respects to the memory of the founder of the Soviet state; and the graves of other Soviet leaders, including that of Joseph Stalin, beside the Kremlin wall. Stalin's body was moved there from the Mausoleum in 1961.

Finally, it moves out to the Lenin Hills, to the south-west of the city, where Moscow University is situated. From here, it is possible to look across a great loop of the Moscow River and see the whole centre of the city spread out beyond.

There is natural sound with most of the film, as indicated in shot list.